The 2000 New York Mets qualified for the postseason as the National League’s wildcard team, in the time when there was only one wildcard entrant per league. Their first round opponent was the San Francisco Giants, who had the best regular season record in all of baseball at 97-65.

The best-of-five series began in San Francisco, where the two teams split the first two games. In Game Two, the Mets blew a ninth-inning lead, but rallied to win in extra innings, with the game ending a controversial John Franco strikeout of Barry Bonds. The series then shifted to Shea Stadium, where manager Bobby Valentine sent Rick Reed to the mound to face the Giants’ Russ Ortiz in Game Three.

The Mets had games three and four at home, and were trying to avoid a return trip to San Francisco for a possible fifth game. Things did not start well for the men from Flushing, as Reed surrendered two runs in the top of the fourth inning on RBI singles by Bobby Estalella and Marvin Benard. The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning.

Mike Bordick opened the Mets’ half of the sixth with a walk. Darryl Hamilton then singled to right field, advancing Bordick to third. Timo Perez then singled, scoring Bordick, and setting the Mets up for more with runners on first and second and no outs. However, the Mets would score no more in the sixth inning, as Edgardo Alfonzo grounded out, moving the runners to second and third. The Giants then intentionally walked Mike Piazza, and brought in Alan Embree to face Robin Ventura with the bases loaded, who hit into an inning-ending double play.

The Mets trailed 2-1 when they came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning. Against reliever Doug Henry, Mike Bordick was hit by a pitch leading off the inning. Pinch hitter Lenny Harris hit into a force play, and became the runner at first with one out. Perez popped out, bringing Alfonzo up. The Giants went to their closer, Rob Nen. Harris promptly stole second base. Alfonzo then doubled him in, tying the game at two. Piazza struck out to send the game to the ninth inning.

The Giants got their leadoff hitter on in the top of the ninth against Franco, but did not score. The Mets put two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth and failed to score. The game went to extra innings.

The Giants faced Armando Benitez in the top of the tenth, and did not score despite having two runners on base. The Mets went down in order in the tenth, and did the Giants in the eleventh. The Mets loaded the bases in the bottom of the eleventh with two outs, but did not score when Todd Pratt was retired on a fly ball.

Rick White came on to pitch for the Mets in the twelfth inning. He allowed two walks, but held firm, not allowing a run. The Mets had two singles in their half of the inning, but did not push the winning run across. The game advanced to the thirteenth inning.

White again allowed two runners to get on base, this time on two singles. Once again, White was able to keep Dusty Baker‘s squad off the board, ending the inning on a popup by Bonds. With Aaron Fultz on the mound, the Mets came to bat in their half of the thirteenth inning. After a Ventura groundout, Benny Agbayani sent the 56,000 fans in attendance home when he got the barrel to a Fultz pitch. You can see the walk-off home run in the video below.

The Mets now led the series two games to one, and would have a chance to advance to the NLCS the next day with Bobby Jones set to pitch.